Cross country struggles at Mike Hodges Invite

Conditions were as ideal as they could get at the Mike Hodges Invitational Saturday, but the MHCC cross country team was left wondering why the pieces didn’t add up.

“Lukewarm.” That was head coach Matt Hart’s single word description of the performances at the meet.

At their last meet — the NWAACC Preview Meet —the women’s team achieved personal bests across the board on a more challenging course, even though the team arrived later than planned after hitting heavy traffic on their way there. But the team’s performance stagnated at the Mike Hodges Invitational on a fairly mild course.

“It was a weird meet. We were on the road for five hours at the last meet (NWAACC Preview Meet) and did well,” said Hart. “I don’t know why they didn’t compete as well as they could have.”

Although the men ran a four-mile race, rather than the usual 8K (five miles), Hart felt performances could have been better, calling overall performances “okay.”

First to finish on the men’s side was sophomore Chris Newell, who placed 17th overall (21:26). Running behind Newell were sophomores Jonathon Butcher in 36th place (21:48), Donnie Coulson in 48th (22:27), Wes Hughes, in 58th (22:42) and freshmen Kyle Williams, 61st (22:50), Robert Hanke, 81st (25:19), and Brian Hoglund who finished 82nd (25:20).

Sophomore Gabriela Diaz was the Lady Saints’ top finisher, placing 29th with a time of 19:36. She was followed by freshman Christa Collmer, 48th (20:35), sophomores Jennifer Tina, 51st (20:48), Andrea Beseda, 73rd (22:45), freshmen Molly Scoles, 79th (24:39), Mariah Crumpler, 80th (24:43), Bianca Jimenez, 81st (25:14), Laura Knudson, 83rd (25:59) and Katie Brokaw, 84th (25:59).

“It seemed like a practice meet,” said Hart, adding that he wants the runners to compete harder, something he has focused on week in and out, saying that the cross country team needs to find more competitive spirit at meets, and this week was no different.

“At this point in the season, you can’t hold back anymore,” he said.
“Cross country is a tough sport, it’s hard on the body,” Hart said. “But we’re running out of opportunities. Whenever the gun goes off, it’s an opportunity,” said Hart.

Freshman Kyle Williams said, “It was definitely the easiest course, though there was quite a bit of pavement,” something he said is difficult to run on with spikes.

“It (the meet) was pretty good,” he said, “though it’s hard to judge since it was a four-miler.”

The cross country team will have another bye this week. They had planned to attend the Beaver Classic in Corvallis on Saturday, but cancelled that appearance due to budget issues, Hart said.

Hart said even before the season started, attending that meet was uncertain due to the financial issues. “It was kind of in the red on the schedule,” said Hart.
After this weekend’s bye, the team will head back to Clackamas Community College for the Southern Region Championships Oct. 29.